Curious Lola

Make a Votive Candle Luminary Out of Skeleton Leaves – Video

When Spring isn’t quite shining her light…. make your own with this diy votive candle luminary.

This Skeleton Leaf Votive will bring a fun and effortless touch to your parties– or your fairy shrine, it depends on what you’re doing I suppose! This lovely little votive is our last feature from our spring Moth Fairy photoshoot and in case you’ve missed it, we’ve had three other DIY projects from this shoot; a floral centerpiece, a floral frame, and a branch chandelier!

After waiting far too long for Spring to show up, our fairy’s guest finally arrives and better yet– with some sunshine and blooming flowers.

Now its your turn to make some votives! Jump over to our Youtube Channel for the full tutorial! Don’t forget to show us your creations!

Make a Branch Chandelier with Moss Kokedama / Embrace the Hoarder Within – Video

I must admit, not becoming a hoarder is something I struggle with. One could say that one perk of being an event designer is that you can keep all the pretty things on a shelf, and call it ‘rental inventory’ rather than a crazed obsession. Luckily, this photoshoot embraced my hoarding tendencies. We went deeeep in the bins to pull items for this unusual branch chandelier with moss kokedama.

This chandelier is featured in our Moth Fairy Waits for Spring Photoshoot; a charming photo story about a subterranean moth fairy who is bored out of her mind for spring to get here already. And she’s a hoarder collector, too. Stay tuned for the feature of the entire shoot:)

You don’t have to load your floral chandelier up with trinkets (but I dare you) as the grapewood branch frame is a versatile structure for whatever goodies you decide to use. Plus the kokedama are super fast to make and impactful… and just fun to say. The moss wraps the plant rootball so moisture is retained- so with a little attention, your branch chandelier with moss kokedama with endure.

Do you have an extra string of pearls or charming trinkets laying around? Great. Got a bird? Put a bird on it.

Maximalism is a thing.

Our friends in hoarding collecting at Vintage Ambience supplied us the quirky bells and whistles for the finishing touch!

This little cutie crocus right here is a kokedama. No worries, we show you how to make these in our video (link below). Kokedama are one of our go-to methods for adding plants to arrangements or elements. And the moss ball (pssssht), the moss ball is the ticket to foam-free flower arranging. Well… one of the tickets at least. a good ticket. Like…a window seat.

Anywho, if you’ve been following our DIY trail (i.e., our DIY Foliage Cage Centerpiece and our DIY Floral Frame), then you might have noticed that our Hoarder Fairy has exceptional taste in decor– however, we may be biased.

So, what to do now? Swing on over to our Youtube Channelto watch our five minute tutorial! Then make your branch chandelier (it’s easier than you think), some kokedama, and go nuts. Show me how it turns out!

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom! That means you are my favorite.

Perhaps you’d like to be a part of our inner circle. Yes? Yay! Type in your email! You’ll also get access to our hour long floral centerpiece video. You can watch it while tending to your fungus collection… or as you convert all your houseplants into kokedama.

Here is how we used it in our recent photoshoot.

And this is pretty much how I feel right now if the rain doesn’t stop. Srrrrsly.

Bored? 3 Free Online Resources for a Creative Jolt.

I’ve reached a new level of boredom. Restless and useless only begin to express what it’s like waiting for this baby to be born. I know I should be ‘cherishing my last moments alone’. But when at the point when you seriously consider whether or not to bother with elastic pants for the hassle it is to get into them, all those fun things that would make for a truly cherishing moment seem a little less appealing. Especially things that require pants or even moderate mobility.

And so I turn to the interwebs for new ways to get entrenched in a project and learn a little something. I thought I’d share my top three sources this week for some quality time spending. Bank them for when you are sick, awaiting an event you have little control over, or when you are just a bit bored and need new thoughts in your noggin.

First: Skillshare

Do you guys know about this. So many incredible classes and some of them free. The image above is my class project from an Adobe Illustrator course that makes collages out of fruits and veggies (instructor Lydie Petit). Thanks Seattle Wholesale Growers Market for the local flowers. Lydie’s class is with a paid membership (which is totally reasonable) and other topics range from How to Make a Perfect Cup of Coffee, Baking Essentials, Branding your Business, Coding, and Writing a Screenplay. I also learned a technique to illustrate monsters and took a bomb and FREE patterning class from Jenna Frye

Here’s another collage thing with a message that an old man told me when I was eleven (and nagging my mom to entertain me). I’ve made a motto of sorts and still remind myself of this on a regular basis.

Second: Creative Mornings

This is a live lecture series that is carried out in cities all over the world. All the lectures/ talks are filmed and stored on their website. The lectures AND the local events are free and cover a wide range of topics. Search by city or topic. The next live talk in Seattle is at Galvanize in Pioneer Square on September 11th with speaker Marcy Sutton. It’s sort of like a TED talk but more casual and with local talent, business owners, and movers-shakers.

My favorite lecture is from Ben Chestnut (founder of MailChimp). This lecture received lots of laughs and a couple of fist pumps to the air. Is there an emoticon for that?

Finally: MIT Open Coursework

A bit more of a time commitment is MIT’s free coursework online. Oodles of topics to geek out on but one that has me interested is this one: Geometric Folding Algorithms: Linkages, Origami, Polyhedra. Just check out the applications in the course description:

I mean, you really just never know when you will need this stuff. If you have any other ideas of stuff to do while waiting for baby, ugh, please, pass them on!!!!!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Mexico taught me this…

The central highlands of Mexico are some of my favorite places to be on Earth. (I haven’t been to ALL the places on Earth, but I’m pretty sure it would still be on top). The combinations of weathered raw materials, handcrafted everything, and bold colors and textures still inspire many of my designs. Stories are everywhere. In fact, one of them is story I tell as a pivotal moment in my early twenty-something life that rocked what I knew to be true about achievement, community, and self-sufficiency. Read it below amid a peppering of our Cinco de Mayo lunch table setting. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I spent a quarter of my last year in college in Cuernavaca to assist our architecture department in building a kitchen for an elementary school in an ‘underprivileged’ community outside of town. As we worked with and spent time in the homes of this community, it became obvious that this town was rich in ways that were unfamiliar to me.

My American upbringing and education seemed to be one giant helping of the following message repeated over and over in different ways:

You are here to express yourself as a unique individual.

You are special and above average.

You can be anything you want.

You can and should achieve as much success as possible.

In this community, we are irritated with stagnant growth, frustrated that we are not receiving the support or resources we need due to our circumstances, or the government. Frustrated that we are not recognized for our obvious above average-ness. This community can be lonely and endlessly interested in what happens next. We are obsessed with our wins and others failures.

Contrast this with what I perceive as the Mexican message to their kids:

You are an important and useful member of this community.

You are, and always will be a loved and involved member of this family.

You can and should learn lots of varied things that will bring you joy, and support your family and community.

In this community, the people make and do the things that their community needs. If there’s a gap, they fill it. For the most part, they don’t rely on anyone outside of their own community. This community is vibrant, connected, and really, really happy because their measure of success can be achieved now and for the rest of their lives.

One message prizes individuality, connects happiness with future success, and assumes that if you haven’t achieved what you want, you are not doing it right. The other message prizes connections and supports the idea that things are great now, if things get bad, we can figure it out together, and please pass the mole.

So, every Mexican celebration, I give thanks to one of the happiest, supportive, and inventive communities I know. Whenever I get frantic in pursuit of a dream, I am reminded that things are pretty great now. Ultimately, there is no need to push. There are people to be loved, and connections to be made and cherished, for a life of daily success. This week, success included lunch on my sister’s patio with some old and bold table decor.

Have you had mind altering experience with a different culture? Share it in the comments! And be sure to join OUR community by signing up in the side bar.